Evaluating the Feasibility of a Shared-Fleet Operation in Healthcare Logistics between Public Organisations

Ismail Aydemir (), Fraser McLeod, Matt Grote and Tom Cherrett
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Ismail Aydemir: Transportation Research Group, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
Fraser McLeod: Transportation Research Group, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
Matt Grote: Transportation Research Group, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
Tom Cherrett: Transportation Research Group, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 21, 1-15

Abstract: Shared-fleet logistics involves collaboration between two or more companies to combine workloads and vehicle capacity to improve vehicle utilisation and transport efficiency and to reduce costs. This study considers the potential environmental and economic benefits of implementing a shared-fleet collaboration between two public organisations: a local government authority and a National Health Service (NHS) Trust. The research focuses on a specific case study using a historical dataset of vehicle movements, wherein the local authority’s fleet of electric courier vehicles is shared with the NHS Trust for transporting pathology samples from 78 doctors’ surgeries to a laboratory for analysis, thereby replacing the reliance on a third-party logistics provider. The benefits suggested by the results included a 17% reduction in costs, a 3% decrease in overall vehicle kilometres travelled, a 69% decrease in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions, a 40% reduction in vehicle numbers, and a 27% reduction in total duty time. These results emphasise the considerable potential of shared-fleet operations to alleviate both environmental and economic problems in urban logistics, encouraging public sector organisations to actively pursue the implementation of collaborative solutions to enhance the efficiency of their own-account vehicles while making positive contributions to environmental sustainability.

Keywords: shared-fleet; freight pooling; horizontal collaboration; carrier collaboration; urban logistics; emissions; road congestion; public sector; healthcare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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